The pilot of the experimental amateur-built Just Aircraft Highlander reported that, after descending to a river near Monroe, Washington, he increased the throttle to add power and level off, but the engine did not respond.
The engine lost total power, and he attempted an in-flight engine restart to no avail.
He then initiated a landing to a nearby island in the river, however, during the landing, the airplane’s airspeed was fast, and braking was ineffective.
He turned the airplane to the right toward vegetation and subsequently hit a sandbank.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing and the empennage.
A post-accident examination of the throttle control linkage revealed that the throttle control had separated at the throttle control pivot arm. The bolt, washer and nut that secured the cable to the throttle control pivot arm had backed out and were not located during the examination.
Additionally, a bolt, bushing binding and nut were used to secure the throttle control pivot arm to a cross-member located between the throttle control cable and the carburetor cable binding. The return spring is designed to open the throttle to the fully open throttle position when the throttle control malfunctions. The torque on the nut that secured the pivot arm to the cross-member was excessive and consequently prevented the pivot arm from allowing the return spring to open the throttle.
Probable Cause: The in-flight malfunction of the throttle control pivot arm, which resulted in a total loss of engine power and the subsequent collision with terrain during the forced landing.
To download the final report. Click here. This will trigger a PDF download to your device.
This September 2021 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
I read all the comments to this point, and thought I should address a few of those. In these articles much of the time, like this one, there is a link you can click that will give you the whole NTSB report (with additional documents if any), including how much time was on this aircraft, its last inspection (and type, such as 100 hr, Annual, etc.).
In this case, this plane had 1077.2 hours as of last inspection.
And it lists the state of the occupants. In this case 2 with No injuries.
The 6120 form also listed the engine hours as 135, so this was a replacement engine.
The aircraft appears to be flown often, with 30 hrs in the prior 90 days, so it may not have had a condition inspection in a year.!
Inexplicable. One would think (I would, at least) that the builder of a homemade airplane would know every nut and bult in that machine and see his assembly process in his sleep. With a drag racing car the owner typically knows literally everything on that vehicle including most importantly the throttle linkage and brake system. Either this guy was so excited about getting airborne that he overlooked those details or somebody removed the washer and nut and tried to kill him. That wouldn’t be the first such story of that nature. Glad he survived. If that happened to me I wouldn’t get within a 100 yards of a homebrew plane again. Fear.
Regards/J
If man was meant to fly he would’ve been born with wings!
Sabotage. I’m a licensed pilot for over 50 years. Probably of this happening with normal surcomstances is extremely low.
Was the pilot injured???
Any landing you can walk away is good and great if the aircraft can be flown again.
I was an Avionics/autopilot tech in the Air Force. EVERY fastener had torque values, that were strictly adhered to, and ALL fasteners were safety wired. Clearly not the case here!!! Glad he survived
It’s an experimental, so the builder can use any hardware that he wants. Even though elastic lock nuts are ok, a castellated nut and drilled screw with a cotter pin would be better.
My 1st Question is why the ‘rube-goldberg’ lever connection vs using an aviation trottle cable and a connection to the carb. lever. ?
Was the pilot injured?
I’m wondering the same thing. Why isn’t the author reporting on how those on board are doing? That’s what I’m most concerned about.